The Rivalry: Witches vs. Rams tonight

Seldom do high school football coaches have the luxury of not having to get their players emotionally fired up for an upcoming game.

However, that has pretty much been the case this week for Bangor Coach Gabby Price and Brewer boss Dan O’Connell. There is never a shortage of emotion or intensity when the Witches and Rams meet on the football field.

Brewer and Bangor will provide a preview of what gridiron fans can expect to see on the field during the 1992 season when the teams renew their 89-year-old football rivalry at Cameron Stadium in Bangor.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

This will be the 93rd Bangor-Brewer game since the schools first met on the football field in 1903. Bangor has owned the series with a 65-19-8 overall record.

For the second consecutive year, the Bangor-Brewer clash will be an exhibition contest, because the teams play in different leagues. However, the game remains a battle for local gridiron bragging rights.

Price, who returns to the Bangor sideline for the first time since 1984, said there has been no need to motivate his players for the game.

“You don’t really have to,” Price said when asked if he had used any tactics to psych up his team. “It’s a big rivalry and you can’t ever undermine that. It’s a great thing and the kids are fired up for each other. They’re fired up for us and we’re fired up for them.”

O’Connell, now in his sixth season as Brewer’s head coach, agreed there has been no shortage of emotion among his players this week.

“I’m sure to our kids and to the Bangor kids, this is a regular-season football game,” O’Connell said. “It will be very important for our seniors to have a win over Bangor. No question, Bangor has a lot to prove. They want to prove that they’re back into it and we have a lot to prove, too.”

Brewer claimed possession of the Timothy Geaghan Trophy, which goes to the winner of the rivalry, for the first time since 1977 last year when the Witches upended the Rams 22-7 at Doyle Field in Brewer. That victory snapped an eight-game losing streak for Brewer in the series.

The Witches are looking to iron out some wrinkles as the preseason winds down. Brewer graduated 14 seniors, most of whom saw regular action a year ago.

Brewer’s strength appears to be on offense, where senior quarterback Matt McGrath, speedy senior halfback Kevin Rogers and jitterbug backs Jerry Crafts and Chris Horr return. Seniors Tim Hodgins (guard) and Mark Abdellah (center) are veterans in the line, while senior tight ends Andrew King and Shain Andrews were regulars a year ago.

The big question mark for the Witches is on defense, which was decimated by graduation. Cornerbacks Horr and Crafts, along with senior safety Greg Crossman and linebackers Hodgins and Abdellah lead the way.

“Defensively is definitely where we’re going to have some holes to plug,” O’Connell said. “We’re going to have to be awfully aggressive defensively, which we were last year.”

Bangor will present a significantly different look under Price. Offensively, the Rams will likely be more run-oriented and try to establish ball control behind senior halfback Rob Estey, junior fullback Ronnie Patterson, junior backs Eric Murray and Ryan Iarrobino, and sophomore Chad Bazinet.

Bangor has one of the state’s premier quarterbacks in senior John Tennett, who missed almost the entire ’91 season with a broken wrist. Up front, seniors Buddy Syphers and Chris Steeves and junior Matt Nye are among the veterans.

The Rams will work out of a 50-base defense, with Estey, Patterson and Nye leading the way from their linebacker spots. Iarrobino and Robert Carrera have experience in the secondary, while senior noseguard Ben Toole is another key.

Price said several of his players, including a handful of sophomores who are expected to play regularly, lack game experience.

Bangor has outscored Brewer 1,489-594 in the series (an average score of 16.1 to 6.5) while posting 39 shutouts to Brewer’s 16.